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Like many of his neighbors, Elijah Williams was a tea drinker. Tea was a bit rare in the early 1700s, but by the time of the American Revolution, many Americans drank tea. Coffee would not become that poplar until the time of the Civil War. The tea canister Elijah bought at a store in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1803 probably looked like this one. It cost only 2 cents less than the 44 cents he paid for half a pound of Souchong tea to store in it.